Sedentary behavior in everyday life relates negatively to mood: An ambulatory assessment study

Abstract

Empirical evidence shows that physical behavior positively impacts human health. Recently, researchers have started to differentiate between physical activity and sedentary behavior showing independent effects on somatic health. However, whether this differentiation is also relevant for mood dimensions is largely unknown. For investigating the dynamic relationships between sedentary behavior and mood dimensions in daily life, ambulatory assessment (AA) has become the state‐of‐the‐art methodology. To investigate whether sedentary behaviors influence mood dimensions, we conducted an AA study in the everyday life of 92 university employees over 5 days. We continuously measured sedentary behavior via accelerometers and assessed mood repeatedly 10 times each day on smartphone diaries. To optimize our sampling strategy, we used a sophisticated sedentary‐triggered algorithm. We employed multilevel modeling to analyze the within‐subject effects of sedentary behavior on mood. Sedentary time (15‐minute intervals prior to each e‐diary assessment) and sedentary bouts (30‐minute intervals of uninterrupted sedentary behavior) negatively influenced valence and energetic arousal (all Ps < 0.015). In particular, the more participants were sedentary in their everyday life, the less they felt well and energized. Exploratory analyses of the temporal course of these effects supported our findings. Sedentary behavior can be seen as a general risk factor because it impacts both somatic and mental health. Most importantly, physical activity and sedentary behavior showed independent effects on mood dimensions. Accordingly, future studies should consider the two sides of the physical behavior coin: How should physical activity be promoted? and How can sedentary behavior be reduced?

Momentary mood predicts upcoming real‐life sedentary behavior

“…Further studies are needed to clarify the issue, whether mood is associated with sedentary behavior on a between‐subject level. In a previous work, 32 we reported that sedentary behavior negatively predicted two mood dimensions (ie, valence and energetic arousal) on a within‐subject level. Thus, the issue of a reciprocal relationship is a crucial question for future research endeavors, which may be of interest to address the question of causality.…”

Accuracy of Sedentary Behavior–Triggered Ecological Momentary Assessment for Collecting Contextual Information: Development and Feasibility Study

“…At each EMA prompt, participants were asked about their social (alone versus not alone) and environmental (home versus work versus leisure activities) contexts ( Table 1 ). Detailed information on the study was described elsewhere [ 4 ]. The study was approved by the institutional review board of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.…”

“…Due to the wear-time criteria, we excluded 11 participants from the sample of study 1, 24 participants from the sample of study 2, and 13 participants from the sample of study 3. More details about the technical system used (the accelerometer and online platform) are described elsewhere [ 4 , 49 ].…”

“…In particular, researchers identified that too much sitting is a major risk factor for physical and mental health [ 2 , 3 ]. For example, studies indicated that sedentary behavior is associated with cardiometabolic diseases, diabetes mellitus type 2, and mood disorders [ 4 - 6 ]. Since the amount of evidence has been increasing, countries have started to publish public health guidelines for adults to reduce sedentary time [ 7 , 8 ].…”

Relationship Between Sedentary Behavior and Physical Activity at Work and Cognition and Mood

“…22,23 Furthermore, using ecological momentary assessment analyses which allows for real-time assessment during everyday life, time spent in SB was negatively associated with valence and energised arousal. 24 However, whether SB accrued specifically during work hours contributes to these mood disturbances is unknown.…”